Progress Book # 17 of 100
The full title of this book is Vanity
Fair a Novel without a hero. With a title like that I wasn’t sure what to
expect. I have seen at least two movie adaptations of the novel and remember
not really liking the story. This isn’t even one of the books that I was
waiting to read. In fact, I only picked this book to read since Daniel was
reading Les Miserables, a really long book- so I thought I should read a long
one too. I have to say, in the end, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I
enjoyed the book. While there were a few parts that just wouldn’t end and went
into way too much detail that was not really crucial to the plot, it was a good
novel that I enjoyed reading.
The story centers around the lives
of two main characters-Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley. They are opposites in
both personalities and social status. Becky aspires to be a part of the wealthy
and will charm and entertain her place into society. She reminded me of
Scarlett O’ Hara loved by all the men and able to talk her way through anything.
Amelia is the prim and proper girl, born into wealth, who does everything in
the way it should be done. Throughout the novel the reader likes them, hates
them, and then understands them all at different points. Thackeray was really
able to get the reader to change their attitude towards each character. At first you don’t like Becky, then you see
her point of view and like her, then you see how she takes advantage of others
and doesn’t love her boy and you don’t like her. It’s always back and forth. Even Amelia got to be really annoying with
her constant devotion towards her husband who society would call a “rake.” Thackeray
was successful in drawing me into the story and keeping me entertained for over
700 pages. The novel follows the two women
from the moment they leave their boarding school together, through war with
Napoleon and into their 30s. From it we get a glimpse of 19th century upper class English
Society.
There were a few times where
Thackeray compared a type of person by actually mentioning a name and using
them as an example. I’m wondering if he
was writing about real people of the time- like a People Magazine type of
thing. Maybe these people were a part of
big scandals or would have been recognized by readers at the time he wrote
this. Even if they weren’t, I like to
think that they were probably modeled after people of the “ton.” It made it really fun to read.
I give this book an A- 92%
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